- Jun 19, 2001
- 2,287
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All right, fess up!!
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Christmas in June? Bah, humbug.
By James Kimberly
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 16, 2005
Summer arrived early this year with a string of steamy days, but in some of Aurora's older neighborhoods it's continuing to look a lot like Christmas.
On the roof of a porch on Claim Street, three white reindeer paw at asphalt shingles below icicle lights rimming the second-story roofline.
Nearby, at a home on Root Street, a plastic Santa smiles next to a front door festooned with long red ribbons and greetings for a season long since passed.
A recent canvass of downtown neighborhoods by 2nd Ward Ald. Juany Garza found as many as 120 homes still decorated for Christmas at a time of year when Frosty the Snowman would become Peter the Puddle in a matter of minutes. Garza left letters asking the residents to take down the decorations by Thursday.
"It's almost the 4th of July," Garza sighed.
Though Christmas in June might be a child's dream, it is an aggravating reality for some neighbors.
"It looks kind of tacky. It's not Christmas anymore. It's June and July, and you don't need Christmas decorations up," said Ray Anderson, 66, a retired school principal who has lived near downtown Aurora for more than 30 years.
Garza represents some of Aurora's oldest and most diverse neighborhoods. The streets rise from the banks of the Fox River through a protected historic district of restored homes and on into neighborhoods of unkempt homes. Latinos outnumber Anglos and blacks in the neighborhoods 4 to 1, according to voter registration rolls.
Residents insist the neighborhoods are free from racial tensions, but Garza conceded most of the complaints she heard came from Anglo senior citizens, whereas most of the people with decorations still up were Latino.
Rolando Velasquez, 20, has spent his life in the neighborhood. As he sat recently in a comfortable chair on the front porch of his friend's home, beneath the reindeer and the icicle lights, Velasquez said there's no reason to take down the decorations. "You're going to have to put them up again--just leave them up," he said. "I'd tell [the city], `I'll take them off, but you've got to come back and put them back on.'"
His friend, Oscar Torres, 19, wore shorts and a short-sleeved shirt as he explained why his family didn't bother to take down the decorations. "It's just that it is kind of hard to get up there in the winter," he said, pointing to the roof.
Torres said the family does put away the decorations they stick in the front yard.
Francisco Lazcono, 31, smiled sheepishly when told the city wants him to take down the white lights that wrap around the pole on his front porch, the Santa Claus next to his front door, and the red ribbons wishing visitors "Feliz Navidad."
He agrees the lights look tacky this time of year. But the red Christmas ribbons, he insisted, improved the looks of his front door. "It's a decoration for the door. It looks very good," said Lazcono, a native of Durango, Mexico, who came to Aurora 10 years ago and owns a furniture store downtown.
But Lazcono said he would take the decorations down to avoid any trouble with the city.
Garza, 50, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, who immigrated to the United States 30 years ago, understands why people do not like to see Christmas decorations in June.
"They didn't do that in Mexico," she said. "I don't remember my mom leaving the Christmas ornaments up the whole year."
The decorations are not up because the neighborhood celebrates Christmas year-round. Few people plug in the lights that dangle from the eaves of their houses; instead, a lot of people are just too busy or too lazy to take down something that will need to be put back up in a few months, Garza said.
"I think it is because they work two jobs, two jobs and a half, and they don't have the time to do that," Garza said. "[Or] they don't want to take it down. They want to leave them for next year."
This is by no means the biggest issue facing the ward. Crime is a much more pressing problem, and street gangs continue to recruit young people, Garza said.
Still, while crime directly affects only a percentage of the population, everyone sees out-of-place Christmas decorations, Garza said.
The city does not have the authority to force people to take down the decorations, Garza said, so the letter-writing campaign is intended to encourage it. Letters written in English and Spanish explain the out-of-season decorations reflect poorly on the community.
Mayor Tom Weisner said the city will look into ways to regulate Christmas decorations through an ordinance if residents do not comply with Garza's request to clean up by Thursday. "That is something we are taking a look at, seeing what other communities do," Weisner said.
Barbara Bates, a retired telephone operator who is on a 2nd Ward citizens committee and has spent more than 60 years of her life in Aurora, the state's second-largest city, said the problem is not limited to Garza's ward.
"It's a pretty big issue in the whole city, actually," she said. "It just looks trashy to have their lights hanging down."
The problem has grown in recent years with the popularity of icicle lights, which are more complicated to install, and has reached a point where something had to be done, Bates said.
"We don't usually pick at petty stuff, but this really looks bad," she said.
Aurora's 12 aldermen have offices near City Hall on Downer Place, not far from the Hollywood Casino. In the building's lobby, a curving staircase ascends to the second-floor offices. Along its banister runs a thick green strand of Christmas lights, the plug lying on the carpeted floor.
When that was pointed out to her the other day, Garza smiled.
"It's not my ward," she said with a shrug.
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Christmas in June? Bah, humbug.
By James Kimberly
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 16, 2005
Summer arrived early this year with a string of steamy days, but in some of Aurora's older neighborhoods it's continuing to look a lot like Christmas.
On the roof of a porch on Claim Street, three white reindeer paw at asphalt shingles below icicle lights rimming the second-story roofline.
Nearby, at a home on Root Street, a plastic Santa smiles next to a front door festooned with long red ribbons and greetings for a season long since passed.
A recent canvass of downtown neighborhoods by 2nd Ward Ald. Juany Garza found as many as 120 homes still decorated for Christmas at a time of year when Frosty the Snowman would become Peter the Puddle in a matter of minutes. Garza left letters asking the residents to take down the decorations by Thursday.
"It's almost the 4th of July," Garza sighed.
Though Christmas in June might be a child's dream, it is an aggravating reality for some neighbors.
"It looks kind of tacky. It's not Christmas anymore. It's June and July, and you don't need Christmas decorations up," said Ray Anderson, 66, a retired school principal who has lived near downtown Aurora for more than 30 years.
Garza represents some of Aurora's oldest and most diverse neighborhoods. The streets rise from the banks of the Fox River through a protected historic district of restored homes and on into neighborhoods of unkempt homes. Latinos outnumber Anglos and blacks in the neighborhoods 4 to 1, according to voter registration rolls.
Residents insist the neighborhoods are free from racial tensions, but Garza conceded most of the complaints she heard came from Anglo senior citizens, whereas most of the people with decorations still up were Latino.
Rolando Velasquez, 20, has spent his life in the neighborhood. As he sat recently in a comfortable chair on the front porch of his friend's home, beneath the reindeer and the icicle lights, Velasquez said there's no reason to take down the decorations. "You're going to have to put them up again--just leave them up," he said. "I'd tell [the city], `I'll take them off, but you've got to come back and put them back on.'"
His friend, Oscar Torres, 19, wore shorts and a short-sleeved shirt as he explained why his family didn't bother to take down the decorations. "It's just that it is kind of hard to get up there in the winter," he said, pointing to the roof.
Torres said the family does put away the decorations they stick in the front yard.
Francisco Lazcono, 31, smiled sheepishly when told the city wants him to take down the white lights that wrap around the pole on his front porch, the Santa Claus next to his front door, and the red ribbons wishing visitors "Feliz Navidad."
He agrees the lights look tacky this time of year. But the red Christmas ribbons, he insisted, improved the looks of his front door. "It's a decoration for the door. It looks very good," said Lazcono, a native of Durango, Mexico, who came to Aurora 10 years ago and owns a furniture store downtown.
But Lazcono said he would take the decorations down to avoid any trouble with the city.
Garza, 50, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, who immigrated to the United States 30 years ago, understands why people do not like to see Christmas decorations in June.
"They didn't do that in Mexico," she said. "I don't remember my mom leaving the Christmas ornaments up the whole year."
The decorations are not up because the neighborhood celebrates Christmas year-round. Few people plug in the lights that dangle from the eaves of their houses; instead, a lot of people are just too busy or too lazy to take down something that will need to be put back up in a few months, Garza said.
"I think it is because they work two jobs, two jobs and a half, and they don't have the time to do that," Garza said. "[Or] they don't want to take it down. They want to leave them for next year."
This is by no means the biggest issue facing the ward. Crime is a much more pressing problem, and street gangs continue to recruit young people, Garza said.
Still, while crime directly affects only a percentage of the population, everyone sees out-of-place Christmas decorations, Garza said.
The city does not have the authority to force people to take down the decorations, Garza said, so the letter-writing campaign is intended to encourage it. Letters written in English and Spanish explain the out-of-season decorations reflect poorly on the community.
Mayor Tom Weisner said the city will look into ways to regulate Christmas decorations through an ordinance if residents do not comply with Garza's request to clean up by Thursday. "That is something we are taking a look at, seeing what other communities do," Weisner said.
Barbara Bates, a retired telephone operator who is on a 2nd Ward citizens committee and has spent more than 60 years of her life in Aurora, the state's second-largest city, said the problem is not limited to Garza's ward.
"It's a pretty big issue in the whole city, actually," she said. "It just looks trashy to have their lights hanging down."
The problem has grown in recent years with the popularity of icicle lights, which are more complicated to install, and has reached a point where something had to be done, Bates said.
"We don't usually pick at petty stuff, but this really looks bad," she said.
Aurora's 12 aldermen have offices near City Hall on Downer Place, not far from the Hollywood Casino. In the building's lobby, a curving staircase ascends to the second-floor offices. Along its banister runs a thick green strand of Christmas lights, the plug lying on the carpeted floor.
When that was pointed out to her the other day, Garza smiled.
"It's not my ward," she said with a shrug.